Hear in the Now Frontier

Hear in the Now Frontier is a work of great change on which Queensrÿche deliberately restrains its former progressive structural beauty a little and heads toward drier guitar and direct singing. It sensitively reflects the air of mid-1990s alternative rock. Geoff Tate’s outstanding expression is intact, yet the songs thrust the vague unease of the individual and society with shorter, sharper phrases, rather than complex, grand stories. From the drive of the opener “Sign of the Times” and the catchy “You” to the drama of “Hero,” the songs have a more compact, direct appeal than before, while cuts like “Get a Life” and “The Voice Inside” convey the band’s new attempts. It is also an important record as guitarist Chris DeGarmo’s last participation before departing. Because of a feel clearly different from the former precise, grand style, it is a work on which fans’ views are divided. Yet the hardness of the dry riffs and a somehow uneasy mood surely have an appeal particular to this period. It can be heard as an ambitious record on which the band, unafraid of the era’s change, collided with it head-on — an important transitional work.